News of: Thursday, 27th of September, 2007

Front Page

Bangladesh has dropped from the position of the 3rd most corrupt country to a tied position of the 7th most corrupt in this year's Transparency International (TI) world corruption perception index (CPI).

Bangladesh slid down 18 steps to the 107th position among 178 countries in terms of ease of doing business in a country, said a global survey report jointly prepared by International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank (WB).

Thousands of job seekers are crossing the age limit for appearing at Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examinations under the Public Service Commission (PSC) as it did not invite applications for the examinations in the last two years.

Demanding release of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, the BNP chief's adviser Brig Gen (retd) Hannan Shah yesterday said the then prime minister Khaleda had no role in awarding a contract to Gatco for container handling.

At least four people, including three Buddhist monks, were killed yesterday as Myanmar security forces used weapons and tear gas to crush protests that have erupted nationwide against the military junta.

Editorial

Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed's address at the UN General Assembly, focusing on the disastrous consequences of climate change triggered by gas emission, is the latest reminder of the great danger that countries, including Bangladesh, are exposed to. If predictions are anything to go by, global warming, if it continues unabated, will lead to rise in sea-level and uproot 25-30 million people in Bangladesh alone!

Transport fare hike during the festive seasons, particularly during Eid holidays, has been a regular phenomenon for years. From this standpoint, we welcome the declaration by transport owners that they would not charge fares beyond what the government has fixed. It is heartening to learn that in the government sector Chairman of BRTC has said that stern action would be taken against any bus operator found guilty of charging fares higher than what has been fixed.

In a corner of our club at Jahangirnagar University (JU), some of us sit together to gossip. This informal meeting takes place almost everyday from 7 pm to 10 pm, covering all aspects of our lives and the society that we live in.

We are again observing labour unrest in many ready-made garments (RMG) factories this year as well. Last year, around May-June, we had noticed disagreements between workers and management in number of RMG factories on issues like low pay scale, working environment, etc. At one point of time, the disagreements and dissatisfaction turned into violence and pandemonium.

Mr. "A" is a teacher of mathematics in a government high school situated in the heart of a district town. He joined the teaching profession in 1994. Now, he lives in his own home built with a large sum of money earned from private tutoring. He starts his day with the first batch at dawn, and carries on with private teaching till evening. He has a lot of batches, each comprising thirty to forty, or at times fifty, students. He receives Taka five hundred from each student in exchange for the light labour done only three days a week.

The National Sports Council (NSC) will soon start renovation works at the Bangabandhu National Stadium as per FIFA suggestions but there is no chance of rebuilding the drainage system of the ground in near future due to time constraints.

It is almost impossible not to compare Rahul Dravid with Shakespeare's Brutus, because as captain he seemed to be at war with himself. There was always an aspect to his captaincy where he wondered whether he was doing right by his players. This is the problem with an individual who by nature keeps his feelings to himself, and if he confides at all it would be to people who are close to him. But outside his family, who? Maybe if Greg Chappell, the Australian who coached India, had continued he might have helped the Karnataka lad come out in the open. That was not to be as Greg was pulled into the quagmire that Indian cricket can sometimes be.

From no-hopers to world champions - all it took was two weeks for India to traverse the journey. A new captain, a young team, and lack of experience in this format were all touted as reasons why India could not win, but these were weaknesses only on paper; out on the field, each of these turned out to be strengths: Mahendra Singh Dhoni was vibrant and positive in the field, backing his hunches at key moments; the young team added oodles of energy to fielding, while the lack of experience in playing this game freed them of excess baggage and allowed them to learn quickly and formulate customised strategies which they believed would work for them: a prime example was the decision to bat first, even as most experts suggested chasing was the way to go.

Romania's National Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office (DNA) confirmed on Wednesday they are in the process of finalising their investigation into alleged match-fixing and tax evasion in the country's league.

Chelsea's problems deepened on Tuesday when Nigerian midfielder Mikel John Obi was banned for three matches after failing in an appeal against the red card he received in Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Manchester United.

Sports Adviser Tapan Chowdhury and Chief of Army Staff General Moeen U Ahmed, also the chairman of the National Sports Council, congratulated Abdullah Al Rakib for becoming the fourth Grand Master in the country.

Uttar Baridhara FC set a final clash against Kolkata Mohammedan Sporting Club in the Datta Narayan Adhikary Smrity Winners football tournament in India when the second division side from Dhaka defeated Modern Boyz Club of Shiliguri 2-0 yesterday.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has been a perfect picture of cool and composure in the Twenty20 World Cup, today confessed that he had feared Misbah-ul-Haq's now-infamous scoop might elude S Sreesanth.

Business

Bimstec (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectorial and Economic Cooperation) trade negotiation committee (TNC) after its 3-day deliberation reached consensus on various outstanding issues including reduction in negative list of products up to 15 percent of the total 5226 tariff lines.

Metropolitan

Six major NGOs have drawn up one-and-a-half-month countrywide programmes to observe the International Right to Know Day with a view to promoting the right to information as a fundamental right and reiterating the demand for enactment of a law in this regard.

Domestic Workers' Rights Network (DWRN), an alliance of 13 rights organisation, at a roundtable yesterday demanded the government recognise the domestic workers as labourers and bring them under the purview of labour law.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who leads the Russian delegation to the UN General Assembly session said Moscow was keen to expand cooperation with Dhaka in bilateral areas as well as in the international arena.

A number of former teachers of Rajshahi University (RU) yesterday demanded immediate release of all detained teachers and students of the university, who were arrested over the violent clashes on and around the RU campus that spread from the Dhaka University in the last week of August.

Impress Telefilm, the leading producer of telefilms and entertainment programmes and Interface Communications, a renowned PR and marketing support organisation, signed an agreement yesterday to appoint Interface Communications as the sole distributor of Impress Telefilm's full-length Bangla films, telefilms and other programmes for screening as in-flight entertainment of different airlines, says a press release.

The Barisal district branch of Bangladesh Puja Udjapon Parishad, has decided to curtail expenditures for observance of Durga Puja, the main religious festival of the Bengali Hindu community, as a gesture of charity to the flood victims.

Iraq was rocked by powerful car and suicide bombings for a third straight day yesterday, with blasts and shootings in the north of the country killing at least 27 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

Written, directed and hosted by Tanveer Hossain Probal, Ekushey TV's new live show Nishikutum will be aired tonight at 8:30 pm. Audiences can take part in this interactive one-hour show through phone calls.

OP-ED

Every year, the United Nations celebrates World Tourism Day on September 27. This year the theme of the day is "Tourism opens doors for women." The theme means that tourism is a sector of the economy that not only employs significant numbers of women, but also provides enormous opportunities for their advancement.

The principle challenge facing Bangladesh today is the escalating prices of essentials, be it rice, wheat, daal, edible oil, chola, onions, brinjals, green chillies, other vegetables, beef, mutton, in fact almost everything. Almost 90 percent of the people are affected by it, 50 percent of us very severely. There continues to be a lot of debate on the causes, but very little concerted action to remedy the situation.

Since the foundation of Bangladesh, the aviation industry has been choked. Air travel in Bangladesh, by default or design, is limited to only a small segment of society because of the sky-high fares. The General Sales Tax, airport tax, Civil Aviation landing/ parking rates, and protection to our national carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines are the main factors that literally not only stopped the growth of the aviation industry in Bangladesh, but also badly affected economic growth.